Rise of the Guardians 2: Seed of Evil (Revised Prologue)
by MidnightWillow516
Summary: I decided to make some small changes to the story because my writing style has changed and I wanted to incorporate it into my old fanfics. This is the story of a girl who has suffered her entire life and after. Her past is painful, her future is bleak, and heart is shrouded in fear and darkness.
1. Storm the Palace

**Warning:** **Half of the prologue is based on the backstory of Mother Nature from The Guardians of Childhood, who will actually make an appearance in the story as Pitch Black's wife. Don't question it, this is pure interpretation. Also, keep in mind, this is my first fanfic, so try not to go too harsh with the comments ;)**

* * *

Prologue: The Story of Layla Pitchener

Thousands of years ago, in a faraway land, within a lustrous marble palace, there lived a happy couple. They had a beautiful little girl named Layla, with hair as black as the night sky, skin like a porcelain doll, lips like pink roses, and eyes like emeralds. Her father was a decorated general, loved by his people and honored by the Golden Army. Samara adored her father, always joining him on his sailing trips. Her mother loved nature. She tended to her vast and bewitching garden every day, as well as fed and took care of any stray a/o injured animals that came by. She wanted her daughter to stay within the palace, so whenever Layla would disobey her and sneak out, she would always scold at her, while her father would just turn a blind eye, admiring his daughter's free spirit.

* * *

One night, a band of Dream Pirates staged a fake ambush in the city outside their home and Layla's father left to stop the feigned threat. As he left, she gave him a locket with her picture and he put it on. He hugged and kissed her and told her he would be back soon. She asked if he promised and he replied: "On my soul."

But while he was fending off a fake threat, the Dream Pirates came to attack their mansion. To avoid the danger, Layla snuck out of her room and escaped on her father's boat. Hearing the alarms, her mother ran to her daughter's room only to find that she was gone again. For the first time, she was pleased of Layla snuck out. The Dream Pirates started breaking down the door and because she knew they would come back for her daughter later, she grabbed a large doll that bared a resemblance to her daughter and held it in her arms. Once the Dream Pirates broke down the door, she kept enough of the doll exposed under her cape and making them believe it was her daughter before she ran to the window… straight into and through it. The glass shattered and Layla's mother was gone.

As Layla stood in the boat, far enough away from the attack, she watched her mother fall to her death with horror and salty tears flooding her innocent eyes. When her father returned from defeating the pirates, he saw the remains of his then deceased wife, as well as what looked like his daughter's corpse. At that moment, the general could do nothing but fall on his knees and weep for what felt like eternity.

After an hour of tears, a massive battleship arrived on the shore. Soldiers of the Golden Army approached the general and told him there were Dream Pirates and Fearlings attacking other kingdoms throughout the world. The army needed his leadership to help capture them all. He thought to himself he had nothing left to lose and did not want anyone to share his pain and agony, so he agreed to help and followed them to the ship. As they climbed aboard, Layla's boat stopped at the shore and she ran across the beach to inform father that she was alright. She ran as fast as she could but was not quick enough. She shouted as loud she could, but her he could not hear from within the ship. She stopped running and could only watch the ship sail away. Layla was all alone.


	2. Getting By

Three years past, Layla made the best of what of little she had. She fed herself, cleaned the palace, taught herself by reading books in her father's library, and took care of her mother's garden. Even after so long, she still mourned the loss of her mother. Though she became enraged at her father for leaving her, she still held him close to her heart. The only time she did not feel alone was at night. Layla loved climbing onto the roof at night when the stars glistened in the sky and the moon lit the city. The way the darkness and the light complimented each other comforted her, making her feel as though was not alone. The night was her only companion.

* * *

One day, she went to the city to go shopping, as per usual. Boys would always try to gain her attention but she remained aloof and ignored them, as she was more focused on her errands. This day, however, was different. She could not help but notice most men in the city were recruited for the war, leaving mothers to look after their glum children. Layla knew exactly how the children felt and could not bear to see them so miserable. She felt she had to do something about it.

Layla decided to help the mothers look after their children. She would help the children with their chores, play games with them, comfort them when they were sad or afraid, defend them from bullies, and sing them to sleep. She did everything she could to make sure they were happy and safe.

* * *

After four years, every child in the city saw Layla as their big sister and she grew to love them all. She taught them one of the most important lessons they would ever learn,

 _"Friends are the family you choose for yourself."_

The children took this lesson to heart. They started playing with each other and helping each other when going through hardships. Seeing this made Layla well up with pride.


	3. Playing with Fire

One morning, Layla was tending to her mother's garden when a soldier of the Golden Army approached her with dreadful news.

Her father and the army eventually captured every fearling and dream pirate and he volunteered to guard them in a secret, underground prison. The fearlings imitated Layla's voice, tricking the general into thinking his daughter was locked up. He rushed to open the cell doors. Not only did the fearlings escape, thousands of them possessed him, corrupted him, transformed him into… Pitch Black. At that moment, the only thing on his mind was terrorizing the entire world with his new found powers. He gathered the fearlings and dream pirates and scattered the globe, spreading fear to all the child world. He even turned those who got in his way into fearlings, including the Golden Army, and the King of Atlantis.

Hearing this put Layla in shock, causing them to sit on the soft grass and contemplating the news. She sat still for hours, staring at nothing, completely flabbergasted. Layla stood up after and walked back to the palace.

* * *

The next morning, she was awoken by a loud ruckus outside. She rushed out of and ran to the downstairs. Before she could reach it, an entire mob of the citizens broke through the door, grabbed her, tied her hands behind her, and dragged her outside.

She pulled and struggled, but could not escape their grasp. She yelled at them to let her go and asked what was happening, but all they did was shout and scream at random.

They dragged her to the city square and onto a high platform. The first thing Layla saw was the Prince of Atlantis and a giant, wooden stake. A group of men brought her to him and she asked him what was happening. All he could do was look into her eyes with cold bitterness, worrying Layla even further… "Tie her to the steak!"

The men follow his orders, as the crowd cheers angrily. After they tie her to the stake, she stares at the prince in terrified horror, contemplating what was happening before her. A tall man in a black hood handed the prince a torch. Suddenly, Layla was given the worst realization of her life.

"Citizens of Atlantis, our own general has betrayed us, stricken fear into the hearts of our children, and taken from us our army, our fathers, our brothers, our sons, and our loved ones. He has proven to be too powerful for our people to defeat. However, there is a way to avenge those we have lost. We shall take away the life… of his only daughter!"

The crowd roared with hateful passion, as the prince approached Layla. They stared into each his eyes a second time, one with fear, one with morose, both with heartbreak. The prince set the straw beneath her on fire. This caused the excited crowd to cheer. Layla coughed and cried heavily, as the fire rose and rose.

Little did anyone know that from behind an ivory statue, a slingshot was aimed and fired at the prince, knocking him unconscious. The crowd was in shock, only to find that the shot was made by an angry little boy. From out of nowhere, an entire band of children appeared and began firing slingshots and throwing eggs at the black hooded man as well as the crowd. While they were all distracted, Layla was shocked to see that one child splashed water on the fire while another untied her. She ran with the two children while one of them signaled the others, letting them know to retreat.

They all ran and took Layla to the forest. She stopped them and let them know she had to go on alone and they had to go back home. One little boy grabbed her by her mint-green dress and wept, begging her to let him go with her. She lowered herself to his level and told him she needed to escape alone, but she would someday come back for them. He asked if she promised and she replied: "On my soul."

Believing her words, the boy handed her a long, beautiful silver knife for her to defend herself with. She hugged him and all the other children joined in, as everyone's eyes flooded with tears. Once they were done, Layla stood up and ran away into the forest. The children could do nothing but watch with heartbreak.


	4. A Family Reunion

Later that evening, Layla managed to find a cold, dark, empty cave to hide in. She sat in a corner, hugging her legs, thinking about everything that happened that morning. She began to worry that someday her father would transform her friends into fearlings. She wondered what she could do to stop that from happening.

She then looked at the starlit sky and then to the moon. She stared in despair and decided to ask her one companion a favor. She begged on her knees for to give her a sign and tell her what she can do to make things right. As she did, she noticed walking outside sneakily was a nightmare man and was given the greatest epiphany of her life.

Layla would look for her father and put an end to his plans. Though her plan seemed flawed, she saw no other way.

While the creature was still oblivious of her presence, she lit up a torch and ran toward it, shouting it. Layla was surprised to see the monster was terrified, as it was apparently afraid or the bright light. She continued to threaten it with the fire and demanded it tells her where to find it's master. It told her she could he was at the end of the forest, by the shore, where the dream pirates' ship would be found. She listened and made her way there, though she still made her threat clear.

* * *

Layla finally found the beach at dawn. There, she saw the dream pirates' impossibly enormous ship. She snuck onto the ship, unaware the pirates lifted anchor, lifted into the air and sailed away across the sky. While hiding in the hold, behind a pile of barrels, until the room was empty. She snuck through the ship without being spotted and on deck. She noticed all the fearlings and pirates, as well as Pitch Black. She hid on the ladder and listened to what was going on.

She heard the monsters' excitement while their master recites his plans to them. With the fearlings at his side, he will destroy the Guardians of Childhood and make the world tremble at the feet of their new ruler.

This made his army cheer with excitement, while Layla froze in shock and horror. She realized the abomination her father had become. There was no possible way for her to defeat him and his army. Her shock almost caused her to fall off the ladder, but she caught herself in time. Unfortunately, one of the fearlings heard her yelp, so it hovered to the ladder and snatched her. The others noticed and several of them ceased her. Pitch smirked maliciously, as he thought to himself he could use another minion.

He turned to see a teenage girl in a seafoam-green dress, with hair as black as the night sky, skin like a porcelain doll, and eyes like emeralds… the girl was his daughter!

He stood there in shock and Layla glared at him with repressed rage. Before Pitch had the chance to do anything, she pulled out her knife and sliced the fearlings restraining her and ran away, with the other fearlings flying after her. She thought to jump off the ship, only to find they were thousands of feet in the air. She considered jumping anyway but was too scared to do so. Completely frozen, she unwillingly let the fearlings grab her again and bring her to the Boogeyman. As Pitch gently stroked her Layla's hair, much to her anger, he chose to regain her loyalty by force. He ordered his fearlings to possess her. Thus, hundreds of them phased into Layla's body and began to possess her.

* * *

Within her head, all Layla could see was darkness. She hugged herself in fear, not knowing what was happening. Suddenly, she heard voices, horrible, menacing voices, telling her to give in. She covered her ears and screamed, as the darkness started to consume her and the voices kept saying horrible things. When it seemed her fate was sealed, she began to hear different voices, hopeful, innocent voices.

It was the voices of the children she loved and cared for. She began to remember what she did for them, what they did for her, and the promise she made them.

Before the fearlings knew it, Samara found the will to fight.

"I made a promise… I made a promise… I made a promise!"

She overcame the fearlings and took control of them, gaining their power.

* * *

In reality, Pitch and the fearlings witnessed blinding light forming around Layla. When the light disappears, they all saw the results of her transformation. Layla barely changed at all, though the changes are noticeable. She did not have gray skin like her father. The only differences were her seafoam green dress turned black, her emerald eyes turned yellow-white with narrow pupils, and the canines in her teeth grew long and sharp. Frustrated at his failed attempt, Pitch decided to keep her captive until she would join him in world domination.


	5. The Night is Born

For a few months, Layla was under the surveillance of the fearlings, making sure she did not escape. The Boogeyman tried everything he could to win over his daughter but to no avail. One night, however, her escape was assured. The Sandman was attacking the galleon. Singlehandedly, he defeated thousands of fearling with his dream sand. The fearlings that were meant to restrain Layla joined the battle only to be defeated themselves. This gave her the perfect opportunity to break out.

Before she could, she spied on her father jousting with the Sandman while trying to keep herself hidden. She did not wish to stay any longer, but at the same time, she did not want her father to be locked away forever. Thus, she gets in Sandman's way and uses her knife to stop his golden sand whip, keeping her from hitting Pitch. He attacks her with another whip and she looks away in fear. When she pointlessly tries to block with her other hand, she unwillingly releases black sand and hits Sandman.

When she realized what she did, she could hardly believe it. However, she didn't waste time thinking about it and battled Sandy herself. She swung her knife and shot black sand, leading Sandman to retaliate. Eventually, Layla blasted an immense amount of black sand, enough to blast Sandman off the ship.

After the battle was over, Pitch was bursting with pride. Before he could show her with a fatherly hug, she pointed her knife at him and stared into his soul with an intense, threatening glare. She told him that she would be leaving and if she ever saw him again, she would not be as noble. With that, she formed into a cloud of black sand and disappears.

* * *

Later that evening, in the middle of the forest, Layla realized people were unable to see or hear her. This depressed, confused and confounded her. She had no clue of what to do next. Out of nowhere, she heard a mysterious yet blissful voice.

 _Nyx_

She looked left and right to see who the voice belonged to.

 _Nyx_

Not knowing why, she looked at the moon above and found that the voice came from it. She could only conclude that someone up there was speaking to her.

 _You are Nyx. Spirit of the Night, and my closest friend._

At that moment, she knew she was no longer human and no longer Layla Pitchener. She was Nyx.


	6. A New Life

As the years went by, things took a turn for the worse. With the Dream War heightening between Pitch Black and the Sandman, fear had grown toward him among both humans and spirits of the world. As it did, every spirit in the world grew to fear and hate Nyx. They thought that because she was the daughter of the Boogeyman and inherited his powers, she would someday become him his heir. As if this was not tragic enough, the Boogeyman killed thousands of Atlantis' citizens. Those who were not killed were instead turned into fearlings. Afterwards, he sunk the empty city underground, never to be seen again. Because of this, Nyx did not keep her promise

Some would flee at the sheer sight of her, others would hunt and chase her down, trying to destroy her. Fortunately, she discovered she could move at the speed of darkness (and yes, that's a thing), helping her to escape and defeat those who would track her down. She quickly became heavy-hearted, feeling as though the entire world was against her. Her innocence disappeared and she built a wall around her emotions.

She still tried to make the most of her eternal existence. She decided to live in an empty cave in Sherwood Forest, just outside of Nottingham, England, where she spent time during the day since her nightmare magic would not work in daylight. When in her cave, she would read horror books and draw dark yet enchanting pictures on a sketch pad of wonders she found all over the world.

* * *

Hundreds of years came to pass and she found she had a special gift. When she saw a lonely child, she would use her silver knife to flash moonlight back at the night sky, signaling a star to fall from the heavens. That star would come to her and she split the star in two. She sent the halves shooting, one-half at the lonely child and the other half at another child nearby. The stars would absorb into the children, creating an instant bond between them. They would learn that as long as they were together, anything was possible.

As happy as this made Nyx, she would still feel miserable from being an isolated outcast.

In the end, her only companions were the Man in the Moon and the stars. Whenever the stars glistened in the sky and the moon shone over her, she felt alive. The night was the time for her to be herself. The warmth she felt from the darkness and the light complimenting each other made her feel free to sing, dance, and show her purest self. The night would always be her only true friend.


End file.
